As a newcomer to Sri Lanka stuck in an office in the burbs it's easy to forget the horrors of the recent past here. And it's not really a topic you want to bring up with new people you are trying to make friends with! But I've a lot to learn. I wonder what the Sinhala equivalent of 'gaijin' is?!
Albright report slams Lanka
July 24, 2013 from Colombo Gazette
A
report compiled by a committee chaired by former US Secretary of State
Madeleine K. Albright has criticised the international reaction to Sri
Lanka during the final stages of the conflict despite embracing the
Responsibility to Protect (R2P) concept.
R2P focuses on preventing and halting genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing.
Released by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, United
States Institute of Peace, and Brookings Institution, the report said
that tens of thousands of Tamil civilians died at the end of the Sri
Lankan civil war with little international outcry or effective UN
response.
Former U.S. secretary of state Madeleine Albright and former
presidential special envoy to Sudan Richard Williamson co-chaired the
working group which compiled the report.
On Sri Lanka, the report says for over twenty-five years, the
conflict in Sri Lanka pitted the army against the separatist insurgency
of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). However, levels of
violence escalated rapidly as the government pursued a strategy of
military victory and advanced into LTTE-held territory between January
and May 2009.
During this period, the civilian population suffered significant
casualties and were unable to escape the conflict zone due to LTTE
threats and the Sri Lankan military’s prohibitions on movement.
The United Nations estimates that up to forty thousand civilians were
killed and hundreds of thousands were displaced during the final phase
of the conflict, which ended with the defeat of the LTTE and the deaths
of its senior leaders.
“Despite the high number of civilian casualties, the international
community did little beyond issuing statements of concern. The UN
Security Council, High Commission on Human Rights, and General Assembly
held no formal sessions on Sri Lanka during this period. In Sri Lanka,
both the government and the rebels can be faulted for failing to protect
civilians. However, the international community also neglected its
responsibility to take timely action when it was apparent that
violations of humanitarian law were taking place,” the report said.
It goes on to say that the case of Sri Lanka exemplifies a challenge
for implementing R2P when sovereign governments confront an internal
threat from a group that is designated as a terrorist organization.
“Since the end of the conflict, the government has steadfastly denied
that the mass killing of civilians and war crimes took place. While
launching its own inquiry into the military’s actions, the government
has obstructed international efforts to investigate potential war crimes
and crimes against humanity. Critics question the independence and
balance of the government commission’s report and argue that
accountability requires a more credible investigation. If a recurrence
of conflict in Sri Lanka is to be prevented, the international community
should help the government respond to the needs of all communities in
the country, while undertaking a national reconciliation process that
addresses wounds inflicted during nearly three decades of conflict,” the
report said.
(Colombo Gazette)
http://colombogazette.com/2013/07/24/albright-report-slams-lanka/
So the site is still a construction zone, it's not finished yet, and the dredgers are still working in the harbour (yes there are people in the water right next to the dredger!). But that apparently didn't stop literally thousands of people swarming all over the site, and having picnics . The line of traffic driving out along the new breakwater was about 3km long each way. Once you were in, as Dave was, you were in! OHS laws are clearly non existent in this country. But it looks like a jolly day was had by all.
